St James's Place funds under management rise to £52bn in 2014

22nd Jan 2015 08:59

St James's Place (SJP) saw a 17% boost in funds under management in 2014 to a record £52bn, thanks to better than expected investment performance, analysts at Numis pointed out.The firm issued a business update for the 12 months ending 31 December 2014. It noted that new single investments were up 18% to £7.8bn while the net inflow of funds under management had risen 20% to £5.09bn.Following the news Numis analysts David McCann, James Hamilton and Jonathan Goslin said they were maintaining their 'add' recommendation on the shares, telling clients in an e-mailed note that between fiscal year 2014 and 2016 they expect EEV NAV growth of approximately 10%, plus a dividend yield of between 2.5-4%, per year."This underpins our positive recommendation. We think SJP offers growth at a reasonable price," they added.Chief executive David Bellamy added: "Despite the uncertainty that markets face in 2015, the momentum of our business, coupled with the increasing need for professional financial advice, reinforces our confidence in the future growth opportunities."St.James also re-iterated its intention to increase the fiscal year 2014 dividend by 40% versus 2013, as expected by Numis.As of 11:10 shares in the company were higher up by 0.12% to raech 828.79p.